Parliament turns chaotic
Ashaiman MP pulls chair of Speaker
Joseph Osei-Owusu was sit-in Speaker
The drama that characterized the chaotic proceedings of the Wednesday, December 1, 2021, sitting of the Parliament of Ghana did not only stop at the near fisticuffs that ensued on the floor of the House.
Of course, the moments where the Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Ernest Henry Norgbey, whisked the chair of the Speaker of Parliament, to the floor of the House, and, when Marshalls in the Chamber had to swiftly move in to secure the Mace of Parliament (the authority of parliament), were huge highlights.
But then, a lot more was going on between the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, and the MPs on the Minority side, even before those heated last-minute moments took place.
After listening to arguments from the MPs on the Minority side, who by a certain point in the House, had become so impatiently incensed at the dragging of proceedings, the sit-in Speaker, who is also the MP for Bekwai, started to give his verdict.
“When a member is presiding; either a Deputy Speaker or a member who by necessity is elected among members to preside, that person does not vote,” he said.
But before he would go ahead, a male voice spoke through the microphones, stating, “You are deviating; he is deviating.”
Joseph Osei-Owusu, visibly shocked, quizzed: “Who was that?”
“Shut up!” another voice cut through.
“You should shut up rather,” another voice came through.
“Who was that?” the Speaker asked again.
By this time, the sit-in Speaker of Parliament had begun looking down from his sitting area and ordered, “Can a Marshall find that person and walk him out?”
The rest of the House, howbeit in a much more careful manner, was erupted in murmurings, even as one of the MPs, whose microphone was still on, said in Twi but interpreted into English: “Let him finish the ruling.”
